Chapter 5: An Old Friend That Came Back

Xu Qing was like Susan, her college dormmate. After graduation, YouYan left City G without a single notice, only coming back last March.

That year, to avoid him, she hid all traces of her location from everyone except Susan and a few select people who knew about her departure. She lost almost all contact with her old classmates. After graduation, they had several reunions, but she never showed up to a single one. Still, she would hear bits and pieces about it from Susan.

Susan was never the type to fight for something, but she always had a soft heart and would tell YouYan bits of information about him. But this time there was no reason not to go as both Zhou HuaiAn and Gu YeBai weren’t going to be there—it was just a reunion with a couple classmates.

8:30 pm, Lavender.

Lightly opening the door to private dining room, YouYan hesitated. Even though they hadn’t seen each other in a couple years, how could she forget about the painful experiences of the past?

Xu Qing was born and raised in City G. When they were still in university, YouYan once asked her where the shopping centers in City G were. She was told that they were easy to find: according to Xu Qing there was only a few of those stores in that area. When she finally got there and asked around, there were only a few stores indeed— just a mere thirty different ones.

They haven’t seen each other in four years, but Xu Qing never disappointed her. Yes, it was a reunion with a few old friends, but that was only if you ignored the dozens of people in the middle of the room.

Soft orange light, faint tremors of a piano, elegant white-collars conversing while holding tall glasses of wine. Her arrival seemed to disrupt this beauty and harmony.

Susan, who was a flight attendant, was currently flying to Turkey, and many other classmates had left City G years ago. Except for those, almost everyone in their major came today, some even bringing partners.

For example, Zhou HuaiAn and her partner next to her, G university’s genius artist of the 1999 class, Gu YeBai.

Despite the fact that her hand hadn’t even left the doorknob, many eyes turned towards her. When a rock is dropped into a pond, how could it not make a ripple? Curious eyes flitted between the three.

Four years; an awkward number, not short and not long, yet it was enough time to break someone.

Inside and outside of the city, perhaps it was nothing more than a dream or a game of time.

Making eye contact with those whose eyes were filled with curiosity and scorn, HuaiAn’s lips curved up in a cold smile momentarily, but quickly turned into a look of surprise—she never thought that she would see Lu YouYan right then and there. Ever since she became official with him two years ago, she had never stopped thinking about how YouYan would come back and appear. Now, when he had slowly pushed memories of her into the back of his mind, she appeared again, just like a haunting spirit.

She thought she hid it well, but Gu YeBai still caught that trace of emotions running through her, his fingers touching her palm, seemingly in consolation.

Nothing ever escaped his eyes—in terms of hiding emotions, he was a professional. He stayed in the University of G as a nobody for three years but made all his fame in one summer afternoon. He could do almost anything, was filled with such talent, and he was hers.

HuaiAn was unable to resist the urge to look at him. His dark pupils were filled with the reflection of Lu YouYan, but there wasn’t any trace of emotion. It was like he was looking at a stranger. This knowledge comforted her.